tetsudofan

5 hours ago, DaveF said:

Now for today's replacements.  This time they are from Petts Wood on the Southern, all taken in November 1979.  There is a mix of Hastings dmus and emus.

 

 

 

 

Petts Wood Class 415 5238 Victoria to Orpington Nov 79 C4892

 

 

Petts Wood Class 411 7117 Charing Cross to Margate Nov 79 C4893

 

 

David

 

 

 

Back in the early1960s used to skip church on a Sunday morning and, together with my friend from next door, instead of going to church we used to go for a walk somewhere. One Sunday we walked from Mottingham to the Petts Wood area and watched the trains from a couple of foot bridges in the area shown in the picture above.

One Sunday, though, we did get caught. Was walking from Eltham to Mottingham when a police car passed us, slowed down and stopped. One of the policemen got out of the car and walked back towards us. My heart started beating when I realised it was my Dad.... Dad was on a Traffic Accident Car (as they were called those days) and I never found out if he ever told Mum where he found us. Mum was the one who had said I should go to church every week although she never came to church with us.

Keith

Of the near 35 years that I lived and worked in the Far East I only worked in the Middle East for six months and that was spent in Bahrain.

When I returned to the UK I travelled the fastest way possible on Concorde. Take off was interesting, taxied to the end of the runway and boom....... we were off. No noise restrictions over there.

As we approached Beirut the Captain advised us that there was fighting going on there and that the air space over Beirut was closed...... but no problem for us he said, we will be climbing from 60,000 feet to 65,000 feet......

Landing at Heathrow was interesting, once we were on the ground the Captain told us that the descent and landing was fully automatic.

Keith

56 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

 

 

No freebie packet of sarnies, tea and bikkies though?

 

I found the anticipation (not) of the whole episode to be by far the worst bit - the actual procedure was fine (better than watching Eastenders, that's for sure), though the moviprep taste is enough to make a Bear barf.  Oh yes, and the fear of being halfway between Bear Towers and the Hospital and needing a dump**.......

(** A certain Bear had a bucket in the boot of the Bearmobile, just in case.....)

 

There was only a choice of packet of bikkies and cup of tea or coffee.

Agree with you regarding the anticipation, you just don't know what the result will be. The prep that I had was PLENVU.

Precautions were taken regarding what could happen on the journey. Thinking of doing the same when I go to bed, just as I did last night and today.

What did surprise me was that after the procedure they talked through the results and gave me a copy of the letter that goes to the GP. That has never happened before

Keith

35 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

A 16?  You're lucky you even found one!!! There are some pretty hefty and permanent cuts to buses in that part of the country - and others - caused by a combination of the severe driver shortage and the ongoing passenger shortage.  The rural bus in Kent is a threatened species.  Try finding any bus going anywhere to or from Sevenoaks other than between 9 and 3 on a weekday for example.  Dover and Canterbury are other places to see major reductions and some complete service withdrawals.  

Yes, we are lucky on the 16 to Canterbury especially when we get 3 per hour although when they started the 16 Gold it was 4 per hour. It's very convenient getting to the Kent & Canterbury, seven minute walk to bus stop and ten minute walk at the other end to the hospital. Also have the option of the 17 going along what was Elham Valley Railway but think the service now is down to one every two hours.

It's not so easy now to get to the William Harvey Hospital at Ashford by bus. Used to be two buses per hour which took around an hour but couple of years or so ago everything changed. It's still the 10 but it's only one per hour and starts its journey as a local service around Folkestone then down to Hythe and then visiting most of the local villages between there and Ashford taking around 90 minutes to the hospital. Have not used it since it changed.

38 minutes ago, pH said:

After a pre-colonoscopy dose of PEG, that was brave! 

I took precautions 🙂

Snap, just the same here. One coach arrived yesterday followed by four more today loosely packed in four more boxes of differing sizes although all items were ordered at the same time.

In the process of opening each of the boxes to ensure that all is ok. 

Just received email from KR Models advising that they have finished processing my order which, I presume, means that my Fell is on the way 🙂.

Keith

On 05/07/2022 at 08:16, Happy Hippo said:

If one is building a ground level outdoor line, the scenery and the geographical features are there first.

 

If you want hands off manual control with a live steamer, then unless the loco is geared down (ie. Shay/Climax/Hielser) then a gradient of about 1 in 50 is about the steepest you can cope with.

 

A garden is never billiard table flat so once a datum point has been selected, it's all cuttings embankments, tunnels and bridges.

 

 

Sometimes the geographical features are not there so one has to improvise. First of all you need to find a pile of earth:

Finding such a pile of earth helps if you are having an extension being built on the house:

and then you start building a railway round said pile of earth:

You can build some tunnels as well:

......and many years later you can stick a platform on the top of the pile so you can watch the trains go round.....

Simples........

Keith

10 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

 

 

One final note: taking the train from Zürich airport to Olten (for my connection onwards) I boarded a brand-new SBB RABe 502, (the TWINDEXX Swiss Express). And much like a car fresh from the factory which has that unique “new car smell“ so the RABe 502 had a “new train smell” – something I have never ever encountered before (has anyone else?).

 

 

Not sure about "new train smell" but can relate to "train type smell"

Going back to many years ago when boarding one of the original Series 0 Shinkansen trains (the original Bullet Train) back in the 1970/80s you were always greeted by a particular smell caused, I understand, by the type of plastic used on the coach interiors.

Jumping forward some 35 years later whilst at the NRM at York I climbed aboard the Shinkansen Series 0 they have there ...... and I was greeted by the same smell!

Keith

23 hours ago, tetsudofan said:

Same message just received down here in the southeast corner.

 

Assuming that DHL will receive/collect the package during the course of the day it will be making it's way down here overnight and should arrive around lunchtime tomorrow, normal time that the DHL courier appears.

 

Keith

Email from DHL received at 07:53 this morning advising that delivery will be made between 10:01 and 11:01.

Right I says, time to pop round the corner to collect my monthly prescription. Did that and returned home ten minutes ago to find a large box in the lobby waiting for me - delivery had been made at 09:30 somewhat earlier than expected.

Time now for morning coffee and biscuits and then the box opening will commence...........😀

Keith

Same message just received down here in the southeast corner.

Assuming that DHL will receive/collect the package during the course of the day it will be making it's way down here overnight and should arrive around lunchtime tomorrow, normal time that the DHL courier appears.

Keith

At 6:00pm on Thursday August 9th, 2018, following an announcement on here and having bought some IRM models, I attended a presentation by Fran at The Model Railway Club in London (of which I'm not a member) to introduce IRM/Accurascale to the UK market.

Three or four of the attendees were RM Web members (adb968008 was one of them), the rest of the attendees were MRC club members. I thought the atmosphere at the meeting was rather chilly and got the feeling that IRM/Accurascale would be facing quite a task to break into the UK market.

The presentation ended with a video outlining the aims of IRM/Accurascale and details of the first models to be introduced to the UK market. In the closing seconds of the video a Deltic suddenly appeared on the screen but Fran did not pass any comments........ 

....... and then three months later on November 21st, 2018 Accurascale announced the launch of the Cl.55 Deltic at the Warley exhibition.

On Wednesday November 24th, 2018  I ordered my Deltic having in the meantime already ordered the HUO, PCV and PCA wagons. Think I was already hooked on Accurascale!!

Keith

10 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

What are those "boxes" on the right of the porch? They look like relatively large speakers to me.

To be  honest I was wondering what they were and then it clicked, they were Korean chests that I brought back with me when I returned to the UK in 1999 having lived in Asia since 1966.

They were awaiting for collection by a friend of mine who worked in the Pilgrims Hospice furniture shop and had found a buyer for them.

Keith

Needless to say my sheds are all train related, this is the big one built to fit in between the previously laid track:

Trains get their own entrance:

The sub-shed is at the other end of the garden where the trains get to enter from the front:

and finally somewhere to relax watching the trains:

known as Platform 3:

Keith

Yes, I've been there a couple of times on my way home after some retail therapy at The Hobby Shop in Faversham. I didn't just drop by but did so with the pre-approval of Hornby.

The drive home from Hersden was cross country (the territory of the East Kent Railway) and made a change from using the A2/A260

Keith

2 hours ago, Gilbert said:

I have had an email to day announcements from 0930 04/05/22

 

 

Then you must be a Bachmann Collectors Club member.....

Keith

Just checked my card account, was charged for two railcars with sound on Saturday.

Be interesting to see when they arrive as sound-fitted versions don't normally get sent out until after all the non-sound versions have been sent out.

Keith

My driving lessons back in mid-1966 were part of my 21st birthday presents. As Dad was a Driving Test Examiner (ex-Metropolitan Police Traffic Accident driver) he did not think it right that he could be seen giving me driving lessons so he paid for my lessons for which he chose one of the driving instructors who he knew was a first class instructor.

My driving lessons however had to be curtailed as The Chartered Bank decided to ship me out to Hong Kong as soon as I was 21 and was able to sign a legal contract. Birthday was on the Friday, on Monday was told that I was being posted to Hong Kong and was to meet the Court of Directors to sign the contract on the Thursday and be told that I would be sailing ten days later.

After a few months in Hong Kong I decided to take some driving lessons followed by the driving test which, much to surprise, was in three parts - a written test, a hill climb stopping and starting three times with parallel parking  at the top and lastly a road test - quite different to the UK test.

Four years later when I came back to the UK on furlough I had to take the UK test but, as I had a valid Hong Kong licence, I did not have to have an L plate on the car..... which, of course, was the car that the examiner asked me to read for the eye test. Dad was still an examiner then and made sure that I didn't do the test at his centre.

Keith

14 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Tapered flares? Isn’t that a bit of an oxymoron?

I see that some of the contributors are sartorially reminiscing, it would be most interesting, and undoubtedly amusing, to see photos of our fellow TNMs in such 60s/70s clobber - such as

• Nehru jackets
• Cuban heels
• Platform shoes
• Tie-Dyed T-shirts
• Kaftans
• Miniskirts*
• Monokinis*
• White polyester suits
• Bell Bottom Jeans
• Spandex leggings
• Shirts with BIG collars
• Kipper ties
• Big hair
• Pony tails**
• Afros

* if appropriate (or not - as the case may be)

** the ancestor of the “man bun”

 

Fortunately, I was able to avoid the sartorial excesses of the 60s and 70s (at least there’s no photographic evidence of any such thing)

Seeing the mention of "Miniskirts" reminds me of my time in Saigon in 1968/1969 when there seemed a be a competition between the youngest expatriate secretaries at the British Embassy as to who could wear the shortest miniskirt. Think the one of them who had some knickers made in the same material as the miniskirt was the winner.

Those were the days........

Keith

13 hours ago, AY Mod said:

Your bling should be back now Keith!

Many thanks Andy, just noticed it when I posted on the Early Risers thread.

Thanks again for your help, very much appreciated.

Keith

Ooooh, just noticed, got my gold status back and no more adverts.

Many thanks Andy.

Keith